All strings articles
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Focus7 tips on adjustments to get the best out of your instrument
The finest Stradivari in the world will sound poor if it is badly set up. Here are some points to consider sourced from our archive
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Premium ❘ FeaturePlayers’ string choices: Strings of the stars
How does string selection affect a performer’s sound? Leading artists who’ve recently appeared in The Strad’s pages or online discuss the strings they use and why
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Focus9 thoughts about playing on gut strings
We delve into The Strad archive for advice and opinion on using natural gut strings
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FocusWhich cello strings? Steven Isserlis, Alisa Weilerstein and others tell us what their choices are and why
Finding the ideal combination of strings is a process that can take a lifetime. Here, some of the world’s leading cellists – and two up-and-coming chamber musicians on the competition circuit – discuss their choices
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ArticleNew Products: January 2020
Leatherwood Bespoke Rosin double bass rosin; Optima Gut Klang violin strings set; International Violoin flexible LED strip
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FocusProfessional string players reveal their favourite accessory
We asked six string musicians to name the one most treasured addition to their kit – though for some it was doing without something which made the difference
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FocusAdvances in string manufacture: the latest developments
There are hundreds of strings available on the market already, and new releases seem never ending. But just why are these developments happening, how necessary are they, and how are musicians involved in that process? Pauline Harding asks string manufacturers and testers worldwide
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Blogs12 tango music techniques for string players
London Tango Orchestra director and violinist Caroline Pearsall demonstrates tango music effects
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FocusHow often should you change your strings?
Violinist Augustin Hadelich tells Pauline Harding why he finds it essential to keep changing the strings on his instrument
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ArticlePittsburgh Symphony strings perform Bernard Herrmann's Psycho suite
André Previn conducts Bernard Herrmann's orchestral suite from the film Psycho, featuring the strings of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1979.
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FocusAsk the Experts: how to combat unravelling strings
Strad readers submit their problems and queries about string playing, teaching or making to a panel of experts
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ArticleHow gut strings are made
A step-by-step guide to the process of making gut strings for bowed instruments.Warning - contains images of animal intestines.
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BlogsVideo: listen to a violin strung with human hair
Artist Tadas Maksimovas was struck with the idea of using his own hair to replace traditional violin strings - while still attached to his head - as part of Street Musicians' Day in Lithuania last year.The hair was divided into sections by stylist Ieva SereikytÄ— and applied with ...
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ArticleViolin string vibrations captured on video
Watch string vibrations captured with a CMOS sensor, 24 frames per second video and 1/4000 shutter speed. According to the film's author, it has not been edited. The effect can be explained by 'the refresh rate of the camera catching the vibration at different parts of the arch'.Subscribe ...
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BlogsPlaying with gut strings and a period bow refines your awareness of sound
Chiaroscuro Quartet second violinist Pablo Hernán Benedí explains why the ensemble chooses to perform entirely on period set-ups
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FocusAaron Rosand on finding the perfect set of strings
Finding the best strings for your instrument can take years of trial and error. The American violinist reflects on his ongoing journey to discover the perfect set
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ArticleNew strings collective challenges session industry obsession with looks
London-based string players aim to make the TV and live session scene less about appearance and more reflective of the diversity of musical talent
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ArticleBassist designs scordatura pedals for real-time retuning
A young US double bassist and composer is developing a pedal system to allow bass players to change the pitch of strings while playing. Carter Callison, a doctoral student and Manson Composition Fellow at London's Royal Academy of Music, has raised $8,000 through crowdfunding website Kickstarter ...
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ArticleUS music camp to teach beginner strings to amputee children
A new music camp for amputee and limb-different children who want to learn stringed instruments or piano launches next week in Cincinnati, US.The Cincinnati Adaptive Music Camp will provide students with any adaptive devices, such as special fittings or instrument platforms, that they need to be able to ...
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ArticleJapanese scientist creates violin strings from spider silk
A researcher in Japan has succeeded in using silk from hundreds of spiders to make a set of violin strings. Shigeyoshi Osaki, a professor at Nara Medical University in southern Honshu, used between 3,000 and 5,000 strands of silk for each string, which produced ‘a soft and profound ...